Stray Cat Strut [Stubbing in 10⁷⁸ years!]

Chapter Thirty-Six – Sleepy

Chapter Thirty-Six – Sleepy

“Long-held international conflicts, as well as conflicts that have arisen between racial and religious groups, will not fade away just because of an existential threat to all of humanity.

While it is optimistic to hope that such groups will set aside their differences in the face of a threat the likes of which the Antithesis pose, such wishful thinking had little basis in established fact.

Some of these groups are facing existential threats, perceived or real, already. The addition of another, alien threat isn’t a cause for them to cease their attempts to fight through long-held grudges.

There is a non-zero chance that the last bullet fired by the last human isn’t aimed at an alien, but at their fellow man.”

-US Intelligence Services Report, June 2025

***

I stumbled into my place feeling like I weighed fifty kilos more and like all of my limbs had been replaced by sludge. My jaw was aching from all the yawning I was doing, and I was pretty sure anyone could convince me of anything at the moment.

Which is probably why it took me a moment to register Lucy standing in front of me wearing nothing but short-shorts, a tank-top, and a large apron that read “Kiss the Me.”

“Hi,” Lucy said.

“Oh, hey,” I said before stifling another yawn.

Lucy nodded, then reached over and started taking my jacket off. She tossed it on the couch, then pushed me forwards. I didn’t have the energy to protest, and just let her press on until we were in our room. “Come on, let’s get you out of these clothes,” Lucy said.

She pressed herself against my back, warm and soft. Her hands trailed along my side, then worried at the button of my pants. “Lucy,” I said.

“Mhm?”

“I love you.”

“Yup.”

“I don’t know if I’m in the mood,” I complained.

Lucy snorted. “You stink too much for that,” she said. “Come on, let’s get you in the shower. The warmth will help.”

I didn’t have it in me to protest. Instead I left a trail of dirty clothes in my wake as I made it to the washroom and then into the shower. Soon, warm, pre-soaped water was pouring down onto my head, and I just stood there for a moment. It was nice.

I came out of the shower some indeterminate amount of time later. Lucy was waiting for me with a large, fluffy towel. She wrapped it around me, then wrapped herself around me too. It was warm, both the towel and Lucy.

“Come on,” she said before she started moving the towel around and drying me off.

“I can handle it,” I said. “I’m tired, not infirm.”

“Don’t care,” Lucy said simply. “Also, we need to do something about your hair. The highlights are almost all gone.”

I blinked, then glanced into the mirror. My hair was still wet and matted down. My usual ponytail had come apart and my hair was down around my shoulders. Longer than was fashionable at the moment. The pink highlights I had at the front were barely there anymore. “Yeah, I guess I could redo those,” I said.

“I bet Myalis has beauty stuff for cheap,” Lucy said. “Or, you know, we could buy normal stuff. No harm in that.”

“Mhm,” I agreed.

Lucy stopped towelling me, then grabbed some clothes from next to the sink. They were pyjamas, big, thick, fluffy ones. The kind of extremely girly shit that I didn’t usually jive with, but which I was totally going to give in to right then and there.

Shit was soft.

“There you go,” Lucy murmured. She guided me out of the washroom, and I blinked as I noticed the bed was all done up, which was extremely unusual. Most of the time the most ‘done’ our bed was, was when all the pillows and blankets were heaped onto it and there weren’t too many dirty clothes on the edge.

“You did the bed?” I asked.

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